A Burning Theory
by Morsefan1
Summary: What if history could be bought back into the present? Could someone really repeat a historical event? Could someone modify a historical event? Find out as Morse has another case to solve, but will Morse be able to prove his theory?


**Author's Note: Hello everyone, First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been reading/reviewing my scripts. But I've only just found out that scripts aren't allowed on Fanfiction (I am quite new to the website) when I was kindly informed so I've had to re-write every one of my scripts into stories. So if you notice them disappearing and then magically re appearing that is why. I hope you enjoy reading my new story versions. Thanks **

**A Burning Theory **

Morse sits in his flat. The loneliness and silence surrounding him, he sits and stares into space, he is just about to accept the horrible feeling of having no company and wallow in his own self-pity when he is startled by an echoing bang on the door.

Morse having jumped out of his skin waits for a moment to recover from his fear before walking up to the door and opening it tenderly. On the other side is Thursday looking rather dazed  
"Why aren't you at the station? You're normally fist one there. Are you ill?"  
"I'm not ill. I'm just a bit down" He mumbles back to Thursday.  
"Well a new case will cheer you up. Oh...wait is that the case smile I see?" Thursday says, quite chuffed with himself to have cheered the rather glum constable up. On that note the detective inspector moves swiftly on to the all-important case. "Come on then, let's go"  
"But I don't know what that case is."  
Even though Morse is an eager beaver when it comes to cases, he will still be reluctant as after all charging ahead will cause him to miss something out. But Thursday having solved one too many cases in his time always chooses to take the cool and calm approach so replies "I'll tell you at the station".  
So Morse not wanting to argue follows Thursday to the station.

Once the pair reaches the 'old nick' they put their serious caps on.  
"Right...down to business" Thursday begins. "So 3 women have been murdered and I want you to study their files...try and find something and report back to me when you're done , I'll leave you to it"  
Morse containing his excitement simply says "ok" And at that Thursday walks off to presume some other work in his office.  
Morse picks out a file and begins to work at them one by one but when he slowly realises he can't find any connection at first glance he enforces his trusty thinking method (the good old tapping of the pen.) Then suddenly he springs up when his brain has concocted a pattern. He grabs his trusty notepad with no haste and starts adding up on a blank page in the pad but while doing this to process his thoughts correctly Morse says these ideas aloud.  
"Right so Anna dextra age 18,  
Millie Tomlinson age 21 and Jenny Riley age 16 so 18+20+16=54 but what connection does that have? The constable continues to taps his pen to get a thought just one thought but as this becomes more difficult Morse grows furious and being able to take no more he launches himself up out of his seat and starts pacing wildly up and down. Still coming up with nothing he lets out a huge cry "Agh there must be something! An address number, a code, a historical date! Hang on, 54?" Morse rushes over to the shelf behind his desk where he keeps a collection of books that are his personal favourites. He scans his finger along the spine of each book until he recovers his 1001 book of historical events; he slides the selected book off of the shelf and slams it onto his desk dust flying off it at every angle. He flicks through the pages until he discovers the date he was looking for "54!" he gasps.1554 the burning of the Protestants. He lunges for the files at his side and runs his finger down to method of death. "Death by Burning" he reads aloud besides having read it in his head already. Then on the file he discovers the victim's religions. Morse leaps out of his chair and barges into Thursday's office completely forgetting his manors and the fact he needs to knock before entering an office.

Morse now out of breath from racing around the place informs Thursday of his discovery. "Sir a connection."  
Thursday deciding to ignore the drama Morse was creating by being so full on and rushing around so says calmly "One moment"  
Morse ignoring Thursday's request for him to wait tries to catch his attention by raising his voice "Sir!"  
Thursday losing his patience with the overly eager constable yells "Alright keep your hair on!" Morse goes surprisingly quiet after that which is good in Thursday's case because he can finally get a word in edgeways. He decides to start the conversation again in a humain manor. So he strides over to Morse and says "yes"  
Morse stands there feeling confused and not knowing what to say. Thursday soon realises that Morse isn't going to reply so continues  
"Is this going to be crazy?"  
Morse finally catches on so boldly tells Thursday "It depends on the way you look at it"  
" How so?" Thursday asks  
Morse feeling really brave now answers back "Well with possibility or a closed mind"  
Thursday taken back a bit by the constable's confidence boost allows him to continue  
"Ok carry on" Morse does so with no hesitation  
"Well all 3 victims ages add up to 54 and according to my book of historical dates in 1554 Queen Mary the 1st burnt between 200-300 protestants"  
Thursday not convinced brings Morse back down to earth a bit "Or it could just be a number"  
Morse gets very angry by Thursday's reply because to him it all makes perfect sense "No you're looking at it with a closed mind, look at the connection"  
Feeling the heated atmosphere Thursday finding this all a bit bizarre tells him "Morse you can't connect a sum with a murder case" Morse grew red in the face, he temper defusing even quicker by the second  
"I CAN DO WHAT I WANT!"  
And that was the final straw for Thursday, it was time to put Morse in his place "DON'T SPEAK TO ME IN THAT MANOR" there is a very tense pause. The two men glare at each other. Morse not knowing what to do next turns his back on Thursday and walks towards the door. "Where are you going?"  
Morse not making absolutely any eye contact shouts back "To do my job!" And after that a very tempered Thursday is left standing alone in his office.

Morse focuses on work to take his mind off of the extremely heated discussion between him and Thursday. After all, nothing distracts him from solving a case. So he takes a little walk to Oxford City Hall to search for the victim's family tree. He enters the hall calmly and strides over to the front desk where a fidgety old man greets him. "May I help you?" he asked as Morse comes across quite lost.  
Morse politely replies "Oh sorry yes, Good afternoon I'm detective constable Morse city police, do you have the Dextra, Tomlin and Riley family trees?"  
The man eyes him up for a moment. Before hobbling into another room.  
He comes back some time later with  
the three things Morse requested.  
Morse thanks the man and then takes a nearby seat. He opens up the folders and notices something rather peculiar, all these girls and their families are Catholic. Morse quickly opens up the history book he bought with him. He reads aloud the first passage in the book about the Tudor burnings of the Protestants "In 1554 Queen Mary the first burnt over 200 protestants to form a Catholic community." he pauses for a second, confused "But the victims are Catholic. Unless, I've got it now! I just need to find out who did this so...the remains I need to see the remains" Morse now with the next step in his head jumps up, slides the family trees on the city hall front desk and exits sharply.  
Morse heads towards Dr DeBryn's laboratory. Not his favourite place in the world, the idea of blood and gore sends a shiver down Morse's spine. But he puts a brave face on and enters.

Dr DeBryn greets him warmly  
"Hello Morse. No Thursday with you today?"  
Morse remembering the kafuffle with Thursday, keeps speaking about him brief "Not today Dr" Max guessing what Morse has come for says "I take it you're here about the triple burning case remains." Morse gives the Dr a nod so he gives Morse his knowledge "I've found a rope most likely used to tie the victims together before the burning"  
"Tie The Victims together?"  
"Oh yes they died together. Their death times were almost identical you see Millie Tomlinson died at 2:56pm,Jenny Riley died 2 minutes after at 2:58pm and Anna dextra died last at approximately 3:04" "So it was a stake burning of 3 people at once?"  
"Indeed, quite like Queen Mary really but the opposite religion" Morse intrigued replies "Yes Quite." And then before Max could react to Morse's first remark, he is interrupted as another question springs to Morse's mind "Wait how do you know they were Catholic?"  
"Oh didn't I tell you there was a Catholic book of prayer by the steak? Quite battered actually"  
"Any finger prints?" asks Morse getting quite excited that his theory is adding up and knowing he can give Thursday a very big well deserved I told you so. Max wondering why the constable is so ecstatic just replies "Now you come to mention it there were a few on the book of prayer"  
"Who's were they?" He asks trying to reserve himself now because he knows he's probably acting like a fool. The Dr grabs the notes he made on the case and reads "A Richard Nighton's prints popped up. I'd check city hall for an address."  
"Ok thank you!" replies Morse who is halfway out the door by now. But Max knowing exactly what Morse is like just says the usual "You're welcome" before returning to his usual business.

Morse is back in the City Hall. Same seat, but a different file as he managed to get the man at the front desk to dig out the latest census from 1965 filled in by Richard Nighton and Morse discovers that Richard is Protestant, he looks further down the census to find an address and at that it's down to the Nick again for Morse.

At the police station Morse knows the only way he's going to solve this case is if he makes peace with Thursday. So putting his own morals and opinions aside Morse heads off to find Thursday. Morse finally catches a glimpse of Thursday at the corner of his eye so cautiously walks up to him. But when he reaches him everything he was going to say had gone out the window so he decides to just stand there. Thursday having had many experiences and arguments with young constables has wised up to this sort of thing blows Morse's cover almost straight away.  
"I know you're behind me Morse"  
Morse clearing his throat can only say "sorry sir"  
Thursday holding a bit of a grudge says sarcastically "So what have you bought me this time a bounty?"  
Morse trying to lighten up the mood jokes "Close a Marathon"  
Thursday gives in and chuckles, he decides to break the ice between them and ask Morse the question he's been waiting for "so what've you found then?"  
As badly as Morse wants to continue he still has to ask "am I forgiven then?"  
"Of course you are, now what have you found?"  
Morse's face lights up and he sets off like a rocket that's been given some fresh fuel "Mr DeBryn found some finger prints on a Catholic book of prayer by the crime scene belonging to a Richard Nighton so I suggest we search there."  
Thursday being quite forceful "Ok you can search I'll question"  
"Ok "  
"Then let's get to it!"

Morse tenderly walks around the flat eyeing every up every single item in the house. He suddenly spots some rope and Catholic book of prayer, he picks them up and carries them over to the next room where Richard Nighton is quietly being questioned by Thursday. Morse creeps in and very alarmingly interrupts Thursday in mid question  
"I thought you practiced the protestant faith Mr Nighton" Holding up the book of prayer. Richard Nighton falls silent for a moment before throwing an insult at Morse  
"Get out posh boy!" Morse looks to Thursday not knowing what to do next .Thursday keeps the situation calm and says "just do as he says, I'll handle it"  
Morse then obliges. He grabs his coat and then waits outside for Thursday. When he is eventually finished they discuss their findings.

"Find anything?"  
"I say that!"  
"I know" Morse chuckles  
Thursday jokes "Well Mr now I'm Thursday, I've found that Nighton is an extremist protestant and is highly against the Catholic faith"  
Morse almost interrupting him yells "WAIT!" Morse then goes into mumbling mode "protestant faith, hates Catholics 1554 burning of Protestants" he gasps and then almost giving Thursday a heart attack shouts "Get to Richard Nighton's house now!  
"What now?" Thursday groans. "You frightened the flipping life out of me!"  
"He's the culprit" Morse exclaims refusing to calm down. Thursday goes to speak but not surprisingly is interrupted by Morse.  
"All you need to know right now"  
So the two leg it to Richard Nighton's house.

"Back so soon?" Richard say suavely  
Morse ignoring Richard's smarmy remark goes forward with what he was going to say "Richard Nighton I'm arresting you on suspicion of the murders of Millie Tomlinson, Anna dextra and Jenny Riley."  
"Oh finally figured it out did we? Well that took a long time, anyway they deserved it because" Richard was going to explain to Morse but Morse has another idea and explains for him.  
" Because they were Catholic. Because centuries ago your relative Victoria Stanbrige was burnt at steak because of her religion so you and your family always despised Catholics and you wanted them to pay, you wanted them to feel the same pain and suffering your relative suffered all those years ago. So you repeated that monstrous act of history because you're a sick twisted human being!" Thursday having to step in at that point says firmly "Morse!" just to remind him to reel his speech in just a tad. And then Morse now bought back down to earth apologizes and orders back up (which has just arrived) to take the monster in front of him away.  
As back up restrains Richard Nighton Morse is given a very harsh word of warning by him.  
"You'll pay Morse, you'll pay"  
And with that the madman disappears from the two detective's sight.

After a long eventful day Morse and Thursday sit in Morse's flat with a well-earned drink. But Morse seems troubled as he sits staring into his glass, there is silence. But all of a sudden Morse comes out with a strange question for Thursday,  
"Will I pay?"  
"What?" Thursday asks as it wasn't the best of conversation starters  
"Nighton said I'd pay, will I?"  
"Course not Morse don't be a div" he reassures the constable. Morse laughs nervously.  
"Just get some sleep and ignore what Nighton said and I'll see you tomorrow" Thursday downs his drink, picks up his coat and with one move he leaves the flat. Morse is then left alone with his thoughts, the way he started off. 


End file.
